The Washington critic., 1887-09-01
TOPICS OF THE DAY.


an ex Confederate officer relate some Of
his personal recollectlnns of John
Wilkes Booth. Among other things
he said: II lived very close to history
blood stained as II was--in those ter.
rible days. saw that the war was
virtually over, aud that the South had
lost. Weary OF the hopeless struggle,
! returned to my Maryland home aud
obtained place as postmaster at one OF
the little river towns on the north bank
Of the Potomac. In those days good
deal Of contraband mail matter was
sent across the river and through the
lines under cover of night. knew
Booth well, and, like most young men,
l admired him. A few nights before
the assassination he came to my house
late, In state of considerable excite.
ment. He said that he had lot OF
important letters which must be sent
through the lines that night. When tue
letters were brought In found that
they filed several bags and | told Booth
that 1t would be impossible to ship them
all at once without discovery. He Ia
sisted that 1t was "a matter of life and
death, and that If | could not get the
mail across the river he would under
take the job himself | promised to do
the best could and he and his CON
pabions rode of. Shortly afterward
spent several days in Washington and
was much with Booth. he was irri
table and preoccupied and drank a good
deal, but neither his excitement nor his
st uI i'm,
well. as very unusual. was with him
until the morning of that terrible day.
and that night when the Intelligence OF
the awful crime spread like wildire
through the city, "a horrible abyss
Seemed to open at my feet Booths mid
night visit 10 my little pOstolllce; my
open, continuous and intimate assoCia
tion with him In Washington for sev
eral days; the fact that had IN my
possession a magnificent photograph
for which he sat during that tune
all these circumstances filled me with
dread. i knew that If fell under sus
picion and was arrested In that time of
horror and excitement 1t would be prob
ably impossible for me to convince any
body that was not privy to the crime.
succeeded in escaping from the city
and in avoiding suspicion, but for many
weeks l lived In constant terror. But
was innocent. | learned afterward
that none of the contrabsnd letters,
about the forwarding of which Booth
expressed so much anxiety, contained a
hint of the dreadful crime for which he
al that time doubtless was making prep.
arations. If such had been the case |
doubt not that swift warning would
have been sent to Washington and the
Tragedy averted."
~
Forty.five years ago, says Mr.. A. L.
Lewis of Washington In letter to the
Philadelphia Times. was a schoolboy
in Baltimore, and a companion aud
frequent visitor at the home of young
Ross, the third son of old Ross Winans,
who was the father of five sons and one
daughter. My father, who was then
an editor of daily paper (the PdtrioO
In Baltimore, has often told me of his
first acquaintance with old Ross
Winans, when he brought to the
Patriot office his model Of lOcOmo
tive, which he afterward publicly eX
hibited In the exchange. He soon
established manufactory, and was
building his well known camel back"
heavy draft engines for the Baltimore
and Ohio Railroad when he re,
ceived from the Emperor of Russia the
contract for building the road from St.
Petersburg to Moscow. His eldest son.
Thomas, was first sent out to secure the
contract. Then William followed, aud
ere long the third son, Ross, my school.
mate, Joined his two elder brothers, and
all made fortunes, while the old msn
remained at home and carried on the 10.
comolive works with his two younger
boys, Walter and Clinton, after the lat.
ter had acquired plain common school
education, In 1912, when was 10 years
old, the Winnps children had novel
play,hing, which was constructed by
their father. 1t was nothing less than
miniature railroad track aud train VI
cars, which was erected in the back
yard of the family residence on Fayette
street, north side, above Pine street.
The track was built on piles, about
three feet from the ground, aud the
train ran on down grade to the bottom
of the yard and returncd by its own mo.
men,um. The one daughter, Julia, mlr.
rled MIR. Whistler, aud last saw her
and her father, with his second wife,
"a
One Of the features of the Govern
ment civil service examination in this
city, says the New York Times, has
been the poor showing made by some
Of the college graduates among the
candidates for clcrkshipl aud other ap.
poiuimenls. The men who are well NJ
on the subjects taught In the public
schools are the ones whO get the high,
est ratings, especially If their expert
enccs Of the joys of drinking at the
States fountain of knowledge date
back only few years. One young
man who took the papers not very
long ngO was the uyucr Of adiplDmA
from an American college, but he did
not know where Iorktnwn Is, aud hnd
never heard that any body named Corn
wallis had ever larod badly ut such Il
place When 1t came to name
the original States the nlumnus put
himself on record MS holding tnat OHIO
was one OF the thirteun.
The renn~yivania a. L. Company
announces two delightful autumntl pleasure
tours to The Allegheny Mountains aud
Crteton Springs duirg The month of Sep.
ttmnrr, me hrel to occur pu The 1T aud tua
second ON the Sh Ruund "Trip tickets, Iu-
cludrg one day's board ~ the famous
Mountain House good u return Within ten
day, will be sold from Washington a. Ss
Those awaiting themselves ni tnHser ynb'e
-trips will leave Washington at N;5O a, N,
connecting at Harrisburg with special
usiu.
"AIdrruey Wuiry W agOns.
Fresh Aldrrnry butter, churued every
mnWiuG aud delivered In 10 "Wari'